Chapter 98: Far from over

Chapter 98: Far from over

“Isabel, I don’t think he’s coming.” Todd said. It had been nearly three hours since they’d arrived at Dayton’s mansion, and they’d been sitting at the bench ever since. Isabel ground her teeth together.

“What if he shows up after we leave? I need to know how strong he’s gotten. I won’t just let this go.”

“It’s not letting anything go,” Todd said. “It’s just taking calculated risks. We’ve been here a while. You’ve gone this long without actually doing anything. Just wait a bit longer and–”

“That’s the problem,” Isabel hissed. “I’ve done nothing! It’s been years. I have to make progress. Do something, somewhere.”

“You are making progress. You’re getting stronger. Look at me, Isabel. You know things are off when I’m the voice of reason. I know it’s difficult to be so close, but the physical proximity isn’t going to get us any closer to actually killing the bastard. It’s just a risk.”

Isabel clenched her fists and looked down at the cobbled road. “I know.”

“You were hoping you’d get an opportunity or something because we’d be at the Linwick Estate, weren’t you?” Todd asked gently.

“I know it’s stupid.” Isabel looked away. “I thought maybe I’d be able to use surprise to my advantage. If he hadn’t reached Rank 4 yet, then there’s a good chance it would have worked.”

“And then what?” Todd asked. “You’d be dead, and there’d be more of them still wandering around.”

Isabel let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah. I know. You’re right. Sorry. This was a waste of time.”

“Just go back to being the one that makes the smart decisions, please,” Todd said, rising to his feet and helping Isabel up. “I don’t like being the smart one. It’s too stressful.”

“Giving yourself a bit too much credit there,” Isabel said with a slight smile. “You did follow me here, after all. It would have been smarter to stay back.”

“There are limits,” Todd grumbled. “Let’s go.”

Isabel nodded. She sent one last glance back at Dayton’s mansion as they turned to leave – and froze.

“Todd,” Isabel hissed.

“What?”

“Look.”

The door was open. A tall man had stepped out into the night, lit from the back by yellow light within the house. Long blonde hair framed a sharp, thin face with a hawklike nose. A thin scar ran along the man’s chin, just barely visible in the night. He wore clothes made of a vibrant blue cloth and interwoven with flowing gold designs – Imbued, no doubt.

“That’s him,” Isabel whispered. “I recognize his nose.”

“Good. Let’s go,” Todd said, grabbing Isabel’s hand. She dragged her feet, looking over her shoulder at Dayton.

“What if–”

“No,” Todd hissed. “Snap out of it, Isabel. Come on.”

She shook her head and forced her gaze away from Dayton. “Right. Sorry. I just–”

“Doesn’t matter,” Todd said. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Isabel’s eyes remained directed over her shoulder, back at Dayton as they strode away, and then he was blocked from her sight by the gaudy bushes surrounding his house. Even as they left, she kept looking in the house’s direction and letting Todd lead her.

It was silent, aside from the sound of their fast-paced footfalls echoing through the thin streets. They’d only made it a street down before Todd suddenly skidded to a stop. Isabel stumbled, turning her head to look straight ahead again.

Matching that up with the kind-natured man that had been teaching them for the past month felt difficult at best. It was like he was a different person. After they’d been walking for a few minutes, Vermil came to an abrupt stop.

“What’s going on?” Todd whispered. “How’d you know we were there? I can’t believe you just killed that guard.”

“I followed you when you left the house. I was just watching to see how things would go. I didn’t think anyone would have problems with you sitting and doing nothing, but I saw someone in the mansion spot you and head out to get the guards. I distracted them for a while, but you ended up getting caught as you left. Unfortunate timing.”

“You were following us?” Todd asked, blinking. “How? You were talking to Janice.”

Vermil turned and raised an eyebrow. Isabel’s eyes flicked down to his waist – there was no gourd or book. He didn’t have his travel bag either.

“You’re his clone,” Isabel muttered. “You aren’t Vermil.”

“That was fast,” Vermil said, raising a bloody finger to his lips. “Between us, yeah? Vermil doesn’t need all his secrets getting out.”

“Thank you,” Isabel said, swallowing heavily and glancing over her shoulder. “If you hadn’t showed up...”

“Stupid decision,” Vermil said with a nod. “I don’t know what you were doing, but that was damn stupid. You’ve clearly got a grudge against whoever lives in that mansion. Letting him know that you’re going for him is probably the dumbest thing you could have done. He’s a Rank 5.”

“Rank 5?” Isabel asked, her eyes bulging. “He was stuck at Rank 3 for years. How did he suddenly get so much stronger?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Vermil replied. “You aren’t anywhere strong enough to go after him. What were you hoping to accomplish?”

Isabel pressed her lips together. “I was hoping to see–”

“No you weren’t. If you’ve got such a strong grudge that you’d take a risk like this, you remember exactly what he looks like. You were hoping he’d see you. You want him scared that you’re coming after him.”

Isabel opened her mouth, then closed it again. She turned her eyes away as Todd sent her a small frown.

“You aren’t strong enough for this sort of game yet.” Vermil’s clone shook his head. “It isn’t going to make you feel any better. Just kill the bastard when you’re strong enough. All the revenge games will only end up getting you killed as well.”

Isabel nodded mutely.

“Get back to the house,” Vermil said. “It’s just around the corner. The real Vermil hasn’t noticed you’re missing yet. He’s too busy terrifying the woman that Father sent over to answer his questions. And seriously – don’t try this again. You’ll be lucky if Dayton doesn’t try to put feelers out and figure out what was going on, especially after what happened to his guards.”

“There was only one, though,” Todd said.

Vermil’s clone stared at him.

Todd swallowed. “Right. Thank you.”

“Just don’t do it again until you’re actually ready to deal with the consequences.”

Todd pulled Isabel away, heading down the alley and toward the window that they’d left open. Once they’d left, Vermil turned away and hunched over. A shudder wracked his body as it shifted, warping and shrinking.

Lee looked at her now-too long clothes and sighed. She quickly pulled a spare set of clothes out from where she’d stuffed them into the back of the oversized shirt and stripped out of Vermil’s training robes, swapping them for her normal ones.

“It’s a little odd that he had guards that were so on edge, though,” Lee muttered to herself as she folded Vermil’s clothes up. “It was like they were actually waiting for someone suspicious. Something’s going on over there.”

She glanced in the direction that Todd and Isabel had headed. Despite what Lee had said, she’d overheard just about everything the two had said. After all, she’d been following just a few feet behind them, cloaked by the power of her Runes, ever since they’d left the house.

“I should probably let Vermil know what’s going on,” Lee mused. “But I don’t actually have any useful information yet. I’ve already caused a little chaos tonight, so I might as well take advantage of it. There’s a demon loose in the city, after all.”

Lee snickered to herself and turned away from the house, heading back in the direction of Dayton’s mansion. The night was still far from over.